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THE  GREAT  ISSUE 


THE  GREAT  ISSUE 

DISCLOSED    BY    THE    LEADERS 

AND     THE    PLAIN     PEOPLE     IN 

EUROPE    AND    AMERICA 


BY 

JOHN  FARWELL  MOORS 


>    1   ^ 

i       i        3       i 


BOSTON 
MARSHALL   JONES   COMPANY 

MDCCCCXIX 


^ 


<b 


COPYRIGHT,  I9I9 
BY   MARSHALL  JONES   COMPANY 


^11  rights  reserved 
By  permission  of  the  New  York  Times 


THB  UNIVERSITY  PRESS,  CAMBRIDGE,  U.  S.  A. 


TO  Mr  WIFE 


THE  GREAT  ISSUE 


■J  J      i 
'         9    n    > 


THE  GREAT  ISSUE 

The  Presidenfs  Attitude  Before  the 
European  War 

TO  understand  the  part  being  played 
by  America  in  the  world  drama  of 
today  one  should  draw  aside  the  cur- 
tain on  President  Wilson  at  the  beginning 
of  his  first  Administration,  facing  the  sus- 
picion and  hatred  of  Latin  America  for  this 
country.  He  soon  faced  also  the  scorn  of 
influential  men  here,  who  could  see  only 
what  Mr.  Hughes  called  ^'weakness  and 
vacillation"  and  ''a  confused  chapter  of 
blunders "  in  the  two  invasions  of  Mexico, 
in  the  retreat  from  Vera  Cruz,  in  the  em- 
bargoes and  repeals  of  embargoes  on  arms, 
in  the  support  of  now  one  alleged  bandit, 
now  another,  and  in  the  refusal  to  recog- 
nize the  Dictator^  Huerta,  when  England, 
France,  and  Germany — great  nations  gov- 
erned by  the  old  diplomacy  —  recognized 
him.  The  attacks  on  American  citizens  and 
their  property  were  held  to  be  the  only  real 

[II] 


'IHE    GREAT    ISSUE 

concern  of  this  country.  Yet  in  those  de- 
spised days  the  foundations  were  being  laid 
of  America's  present  world  leadership.  And 
the  conflict  of  ideals  then  was  the  precursor 
of  the  greater  conflict  now. 

In  four  addresses  before  the  war  in  Eu- 
rope had  shed  its  lurid  illumination  on  the 
world,  President  Wilson  expounded  his  con- 
ception of  a  new  and  just  diplomacy.  Eight 
days  after  his  first  inauguration  he  said: 
"  One  of  the  chief  objects  of  my  Administra- 
tion will  be  to  cultivate  the  friendship  and 
deserve  the  confidence  of  our  sister  repub- 
lics of  Central  and  Latin  America."  Typ- 
ical expressions  in  the  other  addresses  are:* 

^'The  peace,  prosperity,  and  contentment 
of  Mexico  mean  more  to  us  than  merely  an 
enlarged  field  for  our  enterprise.  We  shall 
yet  prove  to  the  Mexican  people  that  we 
know  how  to  serve  them  without  first  think- 
ing how  we  shall  serve  ourselves.  Human 
rights,  national  integrity  and  opportunity, 
as  against  material  interests,  that  is  the  main 
issue  which  we  now  have  to  face.  I  know 
what  the  response  of  America  will  be,  be- 
cause America  was  created  to  realize  a  pro- 

*  Many  of  the  quotations  have  been  condensed. 

[12] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

gram  like  that.  We  are  the  friends  of  con- 
stitutional government  in  America;  we  are 
its  champions,  because  in  no  other  way  can 
our  neighbors,  to  whom  we  wish  to  make 
proof  of  our  friendship,  work  out  their  own 
development  in  peace  and  liberty.  The 
United  States  will  never  again  seek  an  ad- 
ditional foot  of  territory  by  conquest." 

From  these  addresses  conservatives  se- 
lected two  words,  ''  watchful  waiting,"  and 
ignored  the  rest. 

His  Attitude  After  the  Outbreak 

of  War 

After  the  outbreak  of  war  in  Europe 
"  red-blooded"  Americans  became  more  ex- 
asperated with  him.  But  he  went  his  way 
unperturbed,  steadily  developing  his  con- 
ception of  the  mission  of  America.^  On 
December  8,  1914,  he  said: 

"We  are  a  true  friend  of  all  nations. 
Therein  lies  our  greatness.  We  are  the 
champions  of  peace  and  concord.  It  is  our 
dearest  hope  that  this  character  and  reputa- 
tion may  presently,  in  God's  providence, 
bring  us  an  opportunity  seldom  vouchsafed 

[13] 


THE   GREAT    ISSUE 

any  nation,  to  counsel  and  obtain  peace  in 
the  world  and  reconciliation  and  a  healing 
settlement." 

On  May  19,  1915,  addressing  newly  nat- 
uralized citizens,  just  after  the  Lusitania 
had  been  sunk,  he  spoke  of  America  as  **  the 
hope  of  the  world  "  and  said : 

"  My  urgent  advice  to  you  would  be,  not 
only  to  think  of  America  first,  but  also  to 
think  first  of  humanity.  America  was  cre- 
ated to  unite  mankind  by  those  passions 
which  lift,  not  by  the  passions  which  sep- 
arate and  debase.  You  were  drawn  across 
the  ocean  by  some  vision  of  a  new  kind  of 
justice." 

From  this  speech,  four  words,  "  too  proud 
to  fight,"  were  selected  for  derision.^ 
On  January  6,  191 6,  he  spoke  of  the 

"solid,  eternal  foundations  of  justice  and 
humanity.  These  are  the  things  for  which 
the  world  has  waited  with  prayerful  heart. 
God  grant  that  it  maybe  granted  to  America 
to  lift  this  light  on  high  for  the  illumina- 
tion of  the  world." 

How  little  impression  these  aspirations 
made  on  influential  men  at  the  time  may  be 

[14] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

deduced  from  the  following  sonnet  pub- 
lished by  a  foremost  American  writer,  on 
Washington's  Birthday,  19 16: 

TO  WOODROW  WILSON 

Not  even  if  I  possessed  your  trust  in  speech 

Could  I  make  any  (fit  for  use)  fit  you : 
You've  wormed  yourself  beyond  descrip- 
tion's reach ; 
Truth  if  she  touched  you  would  become 
untrue. 
Satire  has  seared  a  host  of  evil  fames, 
Has  withered  emperors  by  her  fierce  lam- 
poons; 
History  has  lashes  that  have  flayed  the  names 
Of  public  cowards,  hypocrites,  poltroons; 
You  go  immune.    Cased  in  your  self-esteem 
The  next  world  cannot  scathe  you,  nor  can 
this; 
No  fact  can  stab  through  your  complacent 
dream. 
Nor  present  laughter  nor  the  future's  hiss. 
But  if  its  fathers  did  this  land  control 
Dead  Washington  would  wake  and  blast 
your  soul. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Presidential  cam- 
paign in  19 16,  war  with  Mexico  was  held  to 
be  inevitable,  and  conservatives  were  more 

[15] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

bitter  than  ever  over  the  President's  hand- 
ling of  European  wslt  problems.  The  tone 
of  his  addresses,  however,  gives  no  indica- 
tion of  the  rising  storm.  He  did  not  be- 
lieve that  America  ought  to  fight  for  any 
of  the  traditional  reasons  but  as  Robinson 
and  West  in  ''  The  Foreign  Policy  of  Wood- 
row  Wilson"  point  out:  ''He  was  well 
aware  that  on  the  principles  he  had  laid 
down,  his  country  might  inevitably  be 
drawn  into  war."  Thus  on  February  26, 
he  said: 

"When  we  seek  safety  at  the  expense  of 
humanity,  I  will  believe  that  I  have  been 
mistaken  in  what  I  have  conceived  to  be 
the  spirit  of  American  history." 

And  on  April  17,  he  said :  "  America  will 
have  forgotten  her  traditions  whenever  she 
fights  merely  for  herself  under  such  circum- 
stances as  will  show  that  she  has  forgotten 
to  fight  for  all  mankind.  The  only  excuse 
that  America  can  ever  have  for  the  assertion 
of  physical  force  is  that  she  asserts  it  in 
behalf  of  humanity." 

In  addresses  on  May  27  and  Memorial 
Day,  one  sees  the  germs  of  the  fourteen 
points. 

[16] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

^'  The  peace  of  the  world,"  said  he,  "  must 
henceforth  depend  on  a  new  and  more 
wholesome  diplomacy.  Every  people  has 
the  right  to  choose  the  sovereignty  under 
which  they  shall  live.  Small  states  have  a 
right  to  enjoy  the  same  respect  that  great 
nations  expect.  The  world  has  a  right  to 
be  freed  from  every  disturbance  of  its  peace 
that  has  its  origin  in  aggression.  The 
United  States  is  willing  to  become  a  part- 
ner in  any  feasible  association  formed  to 
realize  these  objects.  I  shall  never  con- 
sent to  an  entangling  alliance,  but  I  would 
gladly  assent  to  a  disentangling  alliance, 
which  would  disentangle  the  peoples  of 
the  world  from  those  combinations  which 
seek  their  own  separate  interests,  and  unite 
the  peoples  of  the  world  to  preserve  peace 
on  a  basis  of  common  right  and  justice." 

Enter  Mr.  Charles  E.  Hughes 

On  June  lo,  Mr.  Hughes,  because  of  "a 
national  exigency  transcending  merely  par- 
tisan considerations,"  shut  behind  him  the 
door  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
and  became  the  Republican  candidate. 
Said  he: 

[17] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

"  I  stand  for  an  Americanism  that  knows 
no  ulterior  purpose,  for  a  patriotism  that  is 
single  and  complete.  We  have  suffered  in- 
calculably from  the  weak  and  vacillating 
course  which  has  been  taken  with  regard  to 
Mexico.  We  utterly  failed  to  appreciate 
and  discharge  our  plain  duty  to  our  own 
citizens.  We  demand  adequate  provision 
for  national  defense  and  we  condemn  the 
inexcusable  neglect  that  has  been  shown  in 
this  matter  of  first  national  importance.'^ 

Senator  Harding,  Chairman  of  the  Re- 
publican Convention,  in  1916,  said  in  his 
keynote  address:  ^'The  Republican  policies 
afford  the  ample  means  (for  naval  defense) 
without  conscious  burdens  upon  the  people. 
Under  any  system  security  is  economy  itself. 
Justice  points  the  way  through  the  safe 
channel  of  neutrality." 

The  Republican  platform  said: 

*^We  believe  in  maintaining  a  straight 
and  honest  neutrality  between  the  belliger- 
ents in  the  great  war,"  and  gave  as  the  pur- 
pose of  preparedness  ^'to  make  certain  the 
security  of  our  own  people  within  our  own 
borders." 

[18] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

While  Mr.  Hughes  and  the  Chairman  of 
the  Republican  Convention  and  the  Repub- 
lican platform  were  thus  consistently  up- 
holding the  principle  of  "safety  first," 
Colonel  Roosevelt  charged  President  Wil- 
son with  having  "  taught  us  to  put  '  safety 
first,'  safety  before  duty  and  honor,  to  put 
that  materialism  which  expresses  itself  in 
mere  money-making,  and  in  the  fatted  ease 
of  life,  above  all  spiritual  things,  above  all 
the  high  and  fine  instincts  of  the  soul,"  and 
said  of  Mr.  Wilson's  Administration: 

''  From  the  standpoint  of  national  honor 
and  interest  it  stood  on  an  even  lower  level 
than  the  Administration  of  Buchanan.  No 
Administration  in  our  history  has  done  more 
to  relax  the  spring  of  the  national  will  and 
to  deaden  the  national  conscience." 

In  those  tense  days,  with  the  outcome  of 
the  campaign  in  the  gravest  doubt,  the 
President  steadily  refused  to  go  to  war  with 
Mexico,  though  his  opponents  incessantly 
urged  that  not  to  intervene  was  a  disgrace. 
Colonel  Roosevelt's  description  of  Mr.  Wil- 
son's dealings  with  Mexico  as  "  a  shameless 
history"  expressed  the  view  of  the  most  in- 

[19] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

fluential  men  in  America.  With  impunity, 
the  Colonel  called  the  President  worse  than 
Pontius  Pilate.  ''Hundreds"  (of  Ameri- 
cans), said  he,  ''have  been  killed,  and  Mr. 
Wilson  has  watched  their  fortunes  as  disin- 
terestedly as  if  they  had  been  rats  pursued 
by  terriers." 

In  the  face  of  bitter  and  wide-spread 
criticism  Mr.  Wilson  expounded  his  Mexi- 
can policy  thus: 

*'  The  easiest  thing  is  to  strike.  The  bru- 
tal thing  is  the  impulsive  thing.  Do  you 
think  the  glory  of  America  would  be  en- 
hanced by  a  war  of  conquest  in  Mexico? 
Do  you  think  that  any  act  of  violence  by  a 
powerful  nation  like  this  against  a  weak 
neighbor  would  reflect  distinction  upon  the 
annals  of  the  United  States?  We  have  the 
evidence  of  a  competent  witness,  the  first 
Napoleon,  that  force  had  never  accom- 
plished anything  permanent.  Force  will 
not  accomplish  anything  permanent,  I  ven- 
ture to  say,  in  the  great  struggle  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea.  The  permanent  things  will 
be  accomplished  afterward  when  the  opin- 
ion of  mankind  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the 


issues." 


[20] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

^^  Some  gentlemen  say  they  want  to  help 
Mexico,  and  the  way  they  want  to  help  her 
is  to  overwhelm  her  with  force.  That  is  the 
long  way  as  well  as  the  wrong  way.  After 
fighting,  you  have  a  nation  full  of  justified 
suspicion  and  animated  by  well-founded 
hostility  and  hatred.  You  will  have  shut 
every  door,  as  it  were,  of  steel  against  you. 
I  will  try  to  serve  America  by  trying  to  serve 
Mexico  herself." 

^^The  people  of  Mexico  are  striving  for 
the  rights  that  are  fundamental  to  life  and 
happiness  —  fifteen  million  oppressed  men, 
overburdened  women,  and  pitiful  children. 
Some  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  may 
often  have  been  mistaken  and  violent  and 
selfish,  but  the  revolution  itself  was  inevi- 
table and  is  right.  Mistakes  I  may  have 
made  in  this  perplexing  business,  but  not  in 
purpose  or  object." 

In  his  speeches,  Mr.  Hughes  emphasized 
"dominant  Americanism,"  '^ America  first 
and  America  efficient,"  and  "  firmness."  Of 
our  European  diplomacy  he  said :  "  Instead 
of  whittling  away  our  formal  statements 
by  equivocal  conversations,  we  needed  the 

[21] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

Straight,  direct,  and  decisive  representations 
which  every  diplomat  and  foreign  office 
would  understand."  Commenting  on  this 
passage,  the  New  York  Sun  said:  ''We  get 
a  new  light  on  the  enormity  of  the  damage 
wrought  by  Mr.  Wilson  in  occasional  flashes 
of  insight  like  this." 

One  may  contrast  Mr.  Wilson's  address 
of  June  28: 

"  ^  America  first '  means  nothing  until  you 
translate  it  into  what  you  do.  America 
should  be  ready  to  vindicate  at  whatever 
cost  the  principles  of  liberty,  of  justice,  and 
of  humanity.  You  cheer  the  sentiment,  but 
do  you  realize  what  it  means?  It  means 
that  you  have  not  only  got  to  be  just  to  your 
fellowmen,  but  that  as  a  nation  you  have  got 
to  be  just  to  other  nations.  It  comes  high. 
It  is  easy  to  think  first  of  the  national  interest 
of  America,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  think  first 
of  what  America,  if  she  loves  justice,  ought 
to  do  in  international  affairs.  I  believe  that 
at  whatever  cost  America  should  be  just  to 
other  peoples  and  treat  other  peoples  as  she 
demands  that  they  should  treat  her.  That 
I  am  ready  to  fight  for  at  any  cost  to  myself." 

[22] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

The  National  Hughes  Alliance 

In  October  the  National  Hughes  Alliance 
published  a  series  of  advertisements,  over 
the  names  of  twenty-seven  prominent  citi- 
zens, including  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Wil- 
liam H.  Taft,  Joseph  H.  Choate,  Robert  T. 
Lincoln,  and  Elihu  Root.  The  follow^ing 
extracts  indicate  their  tenor: 

FLAG   OR   RAG 

Mexico  is  either  a  nation  or  a  mob  to  be 
estimated  and  dealt  v^ith  by  standards  of 
civilization  or  to  be  treated  as  an  ungovern- 
able barbarian. 

Every  species  of  shame  that  can  be  heaped 
upon  a  proud  Republic  has  been  inflicted 
upon  us  by  a  people  whose  de  facto  head  the 
successor  of  Washington  and  Lincoln  de- 
lights to  honor  with  the  consideration  due 
only  to  political  and  moral  equals. 

THEREFORE  VOTE  FOR  CHARLES  E.   HUGHES   ^ 


WE  ARE  NOT  PREPARED  FOR 

PEACE 

Our  business  is  BUSINESS. 

Year  by  year  it  becomes  more  apparent 

[23] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

that  the  markets  of  the  world  must  be  kept 
open  to  American  industries. 

We  cannot  extend  our  trade  farther  than 
we  are  able  to  defend  it. 

The  rivalries  that  begin  in  commerce  end 
on  battlefields.  The  history  of  war  is  green 
with  international  jealousies.  Every  great 
conflict  in  modern  times  had  its  origin  in 
some  question  of  property  rights. 

We  are  now  universal  competitors  and 
are  destined  to  grow  constantly  stronger 
rivals  for  a  power  which  other  people  will 
not  surrender  without  a  trial  of  wit  and  will 
and,  if  needs  be,  force. 

We  know  our  temper  and  our  intents  and 
we  neither  challenge  defiance  nor  hurl  it,  in 
the  creation  of  an  army  and  the  upbuilding 
of  a  navy  sufficiently  impressive  to  guaran- 
tee respect  for  our  potency. 

THEREFORE  VOTE  FOR  CHARLES  E.  HUGHES 

Let  us  contrast  what  President  Wilson 
said  on  October  26: 

^'  A  great  many  men  are  complaining  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  has 
not  the  spirit  of  other  Governments,  which 

[24] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

is  to  put  force,  the  army  and  the  navy  of  that 
Government,  behind  investments  in  foreign 
countries.  Just  so  certainly  as  you  do  this 
you  join  the  chaos  of  hostile  and  competing 
ambitions." 


Thus  WQ  see  the  issues  drawn.  Mr.  Wil- 
son conceived  America  as  the  servant  of 
mankind.  Mr.  Hughes's  '^  out-and-out  one 
hundred  per  cent  Americanism"  and  his 
"America  first  and  America  efficient" 
meant  the  assertion  of  American  rights. 
The  advertisements  of  the  Hughes  Alliance 
implied  that  these  rights  were  to  be  main- 
tained, even  at  the  expense  of  others,  with 
almost  Teutonic  indifference. 


America  Enters  the  War 

From  the  address  of  January  22,  1917  — 
sometimes  called  the  greatest  State  paper 
ever  written  —  the  critics  selected  for  de- 
rision three  words, ''  peace  without  victory." 
Later,  they  dwelt  on  the  President's  abrupt 
change  of  view,  as  they  conceived  it,  in  his 
war  address  of  April  2.  In  reality,  the  war 
had  become  clearly  a  war  for  humanity  and 

[25] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

justice,  and,  therefore,  as  he  had  said,  Amer- 
ica must  enter  it.  The  two  addresses  are 
parts  of  a  consistent  and  expanding  pro- 
gram.   He  himself  affirmed  this  on  April  2 : 

"  I  have  the  same  objects  in  mind  that  I 
had  on  January  22."  In  the  earlier  address, 
his  object  was  justice  guaranteed  by  a 
"concert  of  power."  In  the  later  address, 
his  object  was  justice  to  be  maintained 
"  against  selfish  and  autocratic  power," 
and  "  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by 
a  concert  of  free  peoples."  Thus,  while 
the  means  had  changed,  the  ends  had 
not  changed.  In  the  earlier  address,  he 
sought  a  peace  '^  worth  guaranteeing  that 
will  win  the  approval  of  mankind."  "A 
victor's  terms"  (as  in  the  case  of  Mexico) 
*' would  leave  a  bitter  memory  on  which 
peace  would  rest  as  on  a  quicksand."  In  the 
later  address,  he  first  emphasized  the  fact, 
consistently  urged  afterward,  that  "we  have 
no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  It 
was  not  on  their  impulse  that  their  Gov- 
ernment acted  in  entering  the  war.  We 
are  glad  to  fight  for  the  ultimate  peace  of 
the  world  and  the  liberation  of  its  people, 
the  German  peoples  included." 

[26] 


THE   GREAT    ISSUE 

The  People  Versus  the  Statesmen 

The  Flag  Day  address  of  June  14,  1917,  \ 

develops  his  conception  of  ^'  the  military  ' 

masters  of  Germany."  Their  '' extraordi- 
nary insults  and  aggressions "  had  forced  us 
into  the  war.  ''But,"  he  repeats,  ''we  are 
not  the  enemies  of  the  German  people. 
We  are  vaguely  conscious  that  we  are  fight- 
ing their  cause  as  well  as  our  own.  The 
military  masters  under  whom  Germany  is 
bleeding  see  clearly  to  what  point  fate  has 
brought  them.  If  they  are  forced  back  an 
inch,  their  power  will  fall  to  pieces  like  a 
house  of  cards.  If  they  fail,  the  world  may 
unite  for  peace,  and  Germany  may  be  of  the 
union." 

In  his  reply  to  the  Pope,  his  address  to 
Congress  December  4,  1917,  his  declaration 
of  his  fourteen  points,  and  his  speeches  of 
April  6,  July  4,  and  September  27,  191 8, 
the  ideas  with  which  his  diplomacy  began 
finally  crystallize.  His  reliance  on  prin- 
ciples is  unchanged,  whether  the  outlook  is 
dark  or  bright. 

"When  the  German  people  have  spokes- 
men whom  we  can  believe  and  these  spokes- 

[27] 


THE   GREAT    ISSUE 

men  in  the  name  of  their  people  accept  the 
common  judgment  as  to  what  shall  be  the 
basis  of  law,  we  shall  be  free  to  do  an  un- 
precedented thing  —  to  base  peace  on  gen- 
erosity and  justice  —  justice  done  to  every 
nation,  our  enemies  as  well  as  our  friends. 
I  should  be  ashamed  in  the  presence  of 
aflPairs  so  grave  to  use  the  weak  language 
of  hatred.  What  we  seek  is  the  reign  of 
law,  based  on  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
and  sustained  by  the  organized  opinion  of 
mankind.  Plain  people  still  fear  they  are 
getting  what  they  ask  for  in  statesmen's 
terms  of  territorial  arrangements  and  di- 
visions of  power,  not  in  terms  of  broad- 
visioned  justice  and  mercy  and  peace  and 
the  satisfaction  of  those  deep  longings  that 
seem  the  only  things  worth  fighting  a  war 
for  that  engulfs  the  world." 

"A  supreme  moment  of  history  has  come. 
The  eyes  of  the  people  have  been  opened 
and  they  see.  The  hand  of  God  is  laid  upon 
the  nations.  He  will  show  them  favor,  I 
devoutly  believe,  only  if  they  rise  to  the 
clear  heights  of  His  own  justice  and  mercy." 

On  September  27  he  invited  the  leaders 
of  the  allied  governments  to  say  frankly 

[28] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

whether  they  thought  him  mistaken  in  his 
interpretation  of  the  issues  involved  in  the 
war,  as  if  he  foresaw  that  the  end  was  near. 

Opposition  of  Conservatives 

Conservatives  here  tolerated  what  seemed 
to  them  the  President's  academic  phrases, 
while  he  and  they  were  alike  primarily  pro- 
war,  satisfied  that  the  sword  was  mightier 
than  the  pen.  But  as  victory  approached 
and  his  conceptions  seemed  possible  of 
fulfillment,  they  welcomed  quite  opposite 
views  from  Senator  Lodge,  for  example: 

*'The  only  peace  for  us  is  one  that  rests 
on  hard  physical  facts.  No  peace  that  satis- 
fies Germany  in  any  degree  can  ever  satisfy 
us." 

Senator  Lodge  did  not  wait  for  the  Presi- 
dent to  reply  to  Maximilian's  first  appeal, 
but  interposed: 

"There  is  only  one  thing  to  be  done. 
That  is  to  put  Germany  in  such  a  position 
by  physical  guarantees  that  she  cannot  break 
out  again.    Put  her  behind  the  bars." 

Throughout  the  vital  diplomatic  ex- 
changes,  leading  to   the  surrender  of  the 

[29] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

Germans,  conservatives  here  were  con- 
vinced that  only  the  interpositions  of  Mr. 
Lodge  saved  the  situation.  While  the  Presi- 
dent vs^as  gathering  the  fruits  of  his  reiter- 
ated offers  of  justice  and  mercy  to  the  Ger- 
man people,  Mr.  Lodge  w^as  publicly  in- 
sisting on  *'  retributive  justice,"  and  was 
saying:  '*  I  regretted  that  the  President 
asked  questions  inviting  discussion.  If  we 
are  to  end  this  war  as  it  ought  to  be  ended, 
are  we  not  ready  to  take  the  onus  of  carry- 
ing it  on  till  that  end  is  reached?"  The 
Boston  Transcript  cried:  ''The  Germans 
will  not  have  to  wait  another  note  from  Mr. 
Wilson  to  ascertain  the  answer  of  America 
to  their  'offer  of  peace.'  The  answer  was 
delivered  yesterday  by  Mr.  Lodge.  The 
nation  hails  him  as  its  spokesman." 

One  may  contrast  the  opinion  of  Cardinal 
Mercier,  whose  land  escaped  being  further 
laid  waste  by  a  needless  continuation  of 
war:  "The  triumph  of  justice  is  complete. 
Your  President  is  one  of  the  greatest  states- 
men of  all  times.  The  Germans'  dark 
plotting  and  treacherous  diplomacy  were 
completely  foiled  by  President  Wilson's 
magnificently  honest  and  implacably  just 
messages." 

[30] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

With  empires  crashing,  revolutions  flar- 
ing up,  millions  starving,  and  a  new  world 
order  trying  to  struggle  into  life,  Colonel 
Roosevelt  responded  to  the  President's  ap- 
peal for  support  that  the  nation's  ^'  inward 
unity  of  purpose"  might  be  ^'evident  to  all 
the  world  "  by  urging  the  election  of  a  Re- 
publican Congress,  that  Europe  might  see 
that  the  **  fighting  men,"  and  not  the  ''  rheto- 
ricians "  were  uppermost.  Such  an  outcome 
would  assure  our  allies  that  America  was 
determined  to  speed  up  the  war  (it  was  all 
over  in  a  fortnight)  and  '^  serve  notice  on 
Germany  and  her  vassal  States  that  they 
would  have  to  deal  henceforth  with  the 
resolute  and  straightforward  soul  of  the 
American  people,  and  not  merely  with  the 
obscure  purposes  and  wavering  will  of  Mr. 
Wilson." 

In  Scrihners  for  November,  within  a 
fortnight  of  the  complete  triumph  of  jus- 
tice, according  to  Cardinal  Mercier,  Mr. 
Lodge  said : 

"No  peace  coming  from  Germany  must 
be  considered  at  all.  Our  business  is  to  put 
her  back  into  a  padded  cell.  We  must  go  to 
Berlin  and  make  peace  there." 

[31] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

Senator  Poindexter  apparently  shared  his 
view,  for  he  said: 

"  If  the  President  undertakes  to  agree 
with  Germany  before  her  army  is  con- 
quered, he  should  be  impeached." 

The  attitude  of  minor  American  conserva- 
tives during  the  triumph  of  justice  may  be 
gauged  by  the  following  from  a  conserva- 
tive editorial : 

"  The  crawling  and  unclean  thing  that  the 
world  calls  Germany  strikes  back  today  in 
another  attempt  to  drag  deeper  into  the  bog 
of  reptilian  diplomacy  the  Government  that 
it  enticed  a  fortnight  ago  into  a  contami- 
nating correspondence,  etc." 

The  President  of  the  Middlesex  Club 
asked  publicly:  *^What  is  there  in  the  rec- 
ord of  the  United  States  which  should  lead 
the  Germans  to  the  conclusion  that  we  are 
the  only  people  yellow  enough  to  consider 
negotiations  of  peace  at  this  time?" 

With  the  winning  of  the  war,  the  Presi- 
dent's purposes,  including  the  fourteen 
points,  came  to  the  very  front  of  the  stage. 
Dr.   E.  J.    Dillon   in   the  Fortnightly   for 

[32] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

October  gives  a  transatlantic  view  thus : 
"Mr.  Wilson  is  in  grim  earnest  about  his 
scheme  of  world  salvation.  If  he  can  but 
lay  its  foundations,  he  will  have  established 
a  stronger  claim  on  the  gratitude  of  the 
human  race  than  any  man  yet  born  of 
woman."  The  Republicans  began  at  last 
to  discuss  these  points.  Colonel  Roosevelt 
said:  "Many,  probably  most,  of  the  four- 
teen points  are  thoroughly  mischievous," 
adding  that  he  did  not  want  "  gunmen  "  in 
the  league.  Senator  Lodge  exclaimed: 
"  Can  you  imagine  our  forming  a  league 
with  Germany  one  of  the  members?"  Sena- 
tor Cummins  became  ironical :  "  Let  us  for- 
get the  League  of  Nations  which  is  to  rule 
the  earth  in  accordance  with  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount."  And  they  all  cried  that 
only  two  words,  "  unconditional  surrender," 
should  be  tolerated  in  discussing  the  issues 
of  the  war. 

The  contagion  of  hate  has  spread  rapidly 
among  those  calling  themselves  Christians 
and  once  shocked  by  the  German  "  H3^mn 
of  Hate."  In  October  the  Atlantic  Monthly 
published  "The  Duty  of  Hate,"  by  an 
American  professor  of  ethics.  Most  culti- 
vated  Americans  have  sympathized  with 

[33] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

this  view.  A  Japanese  scholar  writes:  "  In 
our  dealings  with  the  Huns  we  are  dealing 
with  degraded  devils."  A  former  teacher 
writes:  ''Germany  must  not  be  merely  cut 
down,  but  uprooted  before  a  safe  foundation 
for  Christian  peace  can  be  built."  A  corre- 
spondent of  the  New  Republic  put  the  mat- 
ter thus :  "  Cannot  the  Allies  hand  out  to  the 
Germans  what  the  Germans  would  hand  out 
to  us  if  they  could  win?  Kill  every  German 
willing  to  fight  for  the  war  lords,  and  when 
through  let  Germany  rot."  In  Life  an  Amer- 
ican soldier  leans  nonchalantly  against  the 
ruins  of  Berlin.  The  caption  is :  ''  And  then 
we  can  talk  peace."  Beside  the  headlines, 
"Austria  Begs  for  Mercy,"  the  Middlesex 
Club  proclaimed  this  "creed":  "We  mili- 
tant Republicans  stand  for  relentless  prose- 
cution of  the  war.  Those  who  have  sowed 
the  seeds  of  war  must  taste  its  bitter  fruits 
on  their  own  soil."  Even  after  the  armistice 
the  President  of  the  club  publicly  boasted 
of  this  creed. 

On  November  6,  the  American  people 
"repudiated"  Mr.  Wilson  in  the  Congres- 
sional elections,  but  the  Allies  formally  ac- 
cepted most  of  his  program.  Austria  had 
been  pried  loose  from  Germany.    The  Ger- 

[34] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

man  people  had  realized  that  we  were  fight- 
ing their  battle,  and  on  November  ii,  sur- 
rendered, accepting  the  President's  fourteen 
points,  dismissing  their  masters,  and  throw- 
ing themselves  on  the  mercy  of  their  former 
enemies.  Maximilian  said  in  his  valedic- 
tory: ^'The  victory  for  which  many  had 
hoped  has  not  been  granted.  But  the  Ger- 
man people  has  won  this  greater  victory 
over  itself  and  its  belief  in  the  right  of 
might."  Simultaneously,  we  were  told  that 
Hoover  would  be  sent  to  Europe  to  feed 
both  friend  and  foe. 

Even  at  this  supreme  juncture  the  old 
conflict  of  ideals  continued.  The  paper 
which  announced  '' Kaiser  abdicates"  also 
gave  these  views  from  the  reactionary 
Premier  of  Australia:  ^' There  is  talk  of 
the  Kaiser's  abdication.  Does  he  take 
us  for  fools?  Now  that  they  (the  Ger- 
mans) are  beaten  they  whine  about  democ- 
racy. The  whole  thing  is  a  sham.  No 
statesmen  can  be  permitted  to  rob  us  of  the 
advantage  so  hardly  won."  A  financial  item 
said:  ^'Securities  identified  with  Mexican 
products  have  been  strong.  Carranza  knows 
that  not  only  the  United  States  but  Great 
Britain  are  prepared  to  force  protection  of 
their  property,  now  that  war  is  over." 

[35] 


x  -> 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

David  and  Goliath 
Here  we  see  the  Goliath  with  whom 
David  had  gone  forth  to  battle.  At  the 
moment  when  the  goal  seemed  to  have 
been  reached  it  was  made  plain  that  from 
the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth  the  forces  of 
reaction  were  arrayed  against  the  President, 
while  it  was  equally  plain  that  at  home  the 
very  first  lessons  of  his  Mexican  policy  had 
not  been  learned.  On  November  ii  the 
President  could  say: 

"The  object  of  the  war  is  attained. 
Armed  imperialism  is  at  an  end,  its  il- 
licit ambitions  engulfed  in  black  disaster." 
America  and  the  Allies  had  "  united  to 
set  up  such  a  peace  as  will  satisfy  the 
longings  of  the  whole  world  for  disin- 
terested justice.  They  have  a  mind  in  the 
matter,  not  only,  but  a  heart  also.  The  vic- 
torious Governments  have  by  unanimous 
resolution  assured  the  peoples  of  the  Central 
Empires  that  everything  possible  will  be 
done  to  supply  them  with  food." 

But  the  next  day  Senator  Lodge  rejoined : 

"'Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged,  for 
with  what  judgment  ye  judge  ye  shall  be 

[36] 


THE   GREAT    ISSUE 

judged  and  with  what  measure  ye  mete  it 
shall  be  measured  to  you  again.'  They  (the 
Germans)  are  entitled  to  have  the  same 
measure  meted  out  to  them  that  they  meted 
out  to  France." 

The  President,  furthermore,  said: 

^^  With  the  fall  of  the  ancient  empires  has 
come  political  change  not  merely,  but  revo- 
lution. To  conquer  with  arms  is  to  make 
only  a  temporary  conquest.  The  nations 
that  have  learned  the  discipline  of  freedom 
are  now  about  to  make  conquest  of  the  world 
by  the  sheer  power  of  example  and  friendly 
helpfulness." 

Senator  Lodge  would  have  none  of  such 
helpfulness  and  scouted  the  President's  con- 
ception that  there  was  ^'  a  broad  distinction 
between  the  Imperial  Government  and  the 
German  people."  On  November  i8,  these 
two  champions  of  the  opposing  views  were 
ranged  against  each  other  thus:  The  Presi- 
dent issued  a  Thanksgiving  Proclamation 
in  which  he  reasserted,  '^  Complete  victory 
has  brought  us  the  promise  of  a  new  day  in 
which  justice  shall  replace  force  and  in- 

[37] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

trigue  among  nations,"  while  Senator  Lodge 
introduced  a  bill  requiring  every  one  with 
the  hardihood  to  sell  anything  German  to 
display  a  sign,  *'  Dealer  in  German  Goods." 

The  President's  offers  of  good-will  to  the 
German  people,  if  they  should  do  what  they 
have  done,  and  the  unanimous  offer  of  food 
were  as  ignored  by  the  many  disciples  of 
Senator  Lodge  as  if  these  disciples  had  never 
heard  of  the  ''scrap  of  paper."  The  radio 
appeal,  picked  up  in  the  heavens,  from  three 
German  women  to  Mrs.  Wilson  and  Miss 
Addams,  sent  apparently  in  the  belief  that 
good-will  had  been  reestablished,  and  ask- 
ing that  rolling  stock  needed  to  transport 
food  be  not  taken  away,  disclosed  in  the 
newspapers  a  prevalent  American  view: 

Female  Correspondent  No.  I.  A  man 
told  me  he  had  talked  with  several  women 
about  the  letters  from  Germany  appealing 
for  food  lest  the  German  women  and  chil- 
dren starve,  and  every  one  said,  "  Let  'em 
starve."  I  would  destroy  Cologne  Cathe- 
dral, not  in  malice  or  passion,  but  in  stern 
and  silent  vengeance. 

Female  Correspondent  No.  2.  The  ef- 
frontery of  the  appeal  to  Mrs.  Wilson 
makes  me  sick  with  disgust. 

[38] 


THE   GREAT    ISSUE 

Male  Correspondent  No.  /.  What  if  the 
food  situation  in  Germany  is  desperate? 
Let  the  "  good  "  German  people  suffer  the 
consequences  of  their  own  barbarity. 

Male  Correspondent  No,  2,  If  Germany 
got  what  she  deserves,  the  wolves  would 
stare  out  of  the  windows  into  desolation. 

Male  Correspondent  No.  J.  The  mawk- 
ish sentimentality  of  some  folks  makes  a 
really  kind  man  sick  at  the  stomach. 

Male  Correspondent  No.  4.  Give  us 
more  of  your  editorials  denouncing  the 
slime. 

The  Attitude  of  English  Liberals 

English  liberals  had  met  in  London, 
October  10,  in  answer  to  the  invitation 
contained  in  Mr.  Wilson's  speech  of  Sep- 
tember 27.  At  this  meeting,  Viscount  Grey 
called  ''  firm  and  wise "  that  first  letter 
to  Maximilian  which  Mr.  Lodge  had  ^'  re- 
gretted "  and  his  disciples  had  deplored. 
Viscount  Grey  added :  ''  I  am  quite  content 
to  await  further  developments."  He  said 
that  the  League  of  Nations  had  been  laid 
down  by  Mr.  Wilson  ''on  the  soundest 
lines."  When  Germany  surrendered,  Mr. 
Asquith  pointed  out  that  it  was  not  until 

[39] 


THE   GREAT    ISSUE 

President  Wilson  in  April,  1917,  put  the 
meaning  of  the  war  in  a  few  phrases  and 
boldly  made  a  distinction  between  the  Ger- 
man people  and  their  Government  that  the 
possibility  was  admitted  of  such  events  as 
were  then  occurring.  And  Premier  Lloyd 
George  asked :  ^'  Are  we  to  lapse  back  into 
the  old  national  rivalries,  animosities,  and 
competitive  armaments,  or  are  we  to  initiate 
the  reign  on  earth  of  the  Prince  of  Peace? 
We  must  not  allow  any  sense  of  revenge  to 
override  the  fundamental  principles  of 
righteousness." 

Bitterness  Grows 

A  week  after  "  inward  unity  of  purpose  " 
had  been  denied  Mr.  Wilson,  Senator 
Lodge  said  of  an  antagonistic  speech  made 
by  himself:  "That  speech  was  printed  in 
the  Italian,  French  and  English  papers,  all 
commenting  on  it  favorably."  Presently  a 
typical  dispatch  from  Paris  spoke  of  the 
American  "  squabble,"  and  one  from  Lon- 
don of  "  the  American  controversy,"  and 
said:  "The  intentions  attributed  to  Wilson 
by  Roosevelt"  had  led  to  fears  that  "unless 
the  air  should  be  cleared  the  echoes  of  the 

[40] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

controversy  will  help  play  Germany's  game 
of  a  division  among  the  Allies." 

"Wilson  Chills  Senate"  was  the  typical 
headline  of  a  conservative  paper  when  the 
President  addressed  that  peace-ratifying 
body  before  starting  on  his  pilgrimage  to 
Europe.  The  language  of  the  conservative 
press  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  was  of  a 
kind  which  might  have  been  used  of  a  male- 
factor. The  effect  abroad  was  portrayed  in 
the  headline:  "  France  Amazed  by  Attacks 
on  Wilson."  Senator  Reed  (Democrat)  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  a  League  of  Na- 
tions would  be  treachery  to  this  country 
worse  than  that  of  Benedict  Arnold.  Sena- 
tor Knox  introduced  a  bill  which  assumed 
that  we  fought  the  war  only  to  defend  our 
rights  on  the  sea  and  to  "  remove  the  Ger- 
man menace  to  our  peace,"  and  that  we 
should  forthwith  retire  from  the  scene,  post- 
poning "  any  project  for  any  general  League 
of  Nations."  Senator  Cummins  exasperated 
because  no  Senator  was  a  member  of  the 
Peace  Commission,  introduced  a  bill  pro- 
viding that  eight  Senators  should  unoffi- 
cially accompany  the  peace  delegates  to 
Paris.  Senator  Sherman,  indignant  at  the 
President's  leaving  the  country,  wanted  the 

[41] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

office  of  President  declared  vacant.  Colonel 
Roosevelt  contributed  :  "  As  for  the  fourteen 
points,  so  far  as  the  American  people  have 
expressed  any  opinion  on  them,  it  was  on 
November  5  when  they  rejected  them. 
What  Mr.  Wilson  says  of  the  fourteen 
points  is  sheer  nonsense. 


7) 


All  the  critics  disregarded  the  acceptance 
by  our  enemies  of  these  fourteen  points  as 
the  basis  for  the  peace  settlement.  Up  to 
the  moment  of  the  President's  embarkation 
they  insisted  that  he  was  flagrantly  deserting 
his  post. 

Europe's  Welcome 

When,  however,  this  explorer  looking  for 
,  a  new  world  had,  like  Columbus,  crossed 
the  seas  and  had  reached  a  continent  where 
famine,  anarchy,  and  murder  reigned  in  the 
place  of  empires,  great  throngs,  reaching 
out  their  arms,  welcomed  him  as  no  leader 
of  men  had  ever  before  been  welcomed.  In 
allied  Europe,  in  Germany  and  Austria, 
and  even  in  far-ofif  India  millions  had  seen 
>  the  light  which  he  had  shed  on  the  issues  of 
\  the  war,  and  now  looked  on  him  as  the 
prophet-statesman  of  the  world.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  Municipal  Council  at  Paris  and 

[42] 


THE   GREAT    ISSUE 

the  Prefect  of  the  Seine  respectively  called 
him  ''  the  upright  man  whose  conscience 
fashioned  his  policy"  and  ''the  arbiter  of 
the  fate  of  civilization."  Figaro  says  of 
him:  ''He  deliberates  in  the  light  of 
Heaven,  slowly  and  solemnly,  before  tak- 
ing sides,  but  when  the  prayer,  which 
separates  him  for  a  moment  from  the  com- 
munity of  mortals,  has  come  to  an  end, 
then  all  the  virtues  of  action  wake  in 
him  to  form  a  swift  and  irrevocable  de- 
cision." 

In  England,  for  a  time,  at  least,  reaction 
became  more  in  evidence.  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  seeking  reelection  demanded  an 
indemnity  to  England  alone  of  $40,000,000,- 
000.  How  tremendous  the  issue  is  there  as 
well  as  here  is  portrayed  by  Mr.  L.  P.  Jacks 
in  Land  and  Water  in  these  eloquent  words : 
"  We  can,  if  we  choose,  play  the  part  which 
Germany  intended  to  play.  Our  salvation 
depends  on  our  not  playing  it.  But  the 
temptation  is  great.  It  looks  at  times  as 
though,  having  the  giant's  strength,  we 
meant  to  use  it  as  a  giant.  Is  that  worthy 
of  the  glorious  dead?  These  men  did  not 
lay  down  their  lives  for  British  trade. 
They  died  for  Justice,  and  we  owe  it  to 

[43] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

them  to  see  that  Justice  is  established  on 
the  earth.  It  is  not  esta^blished  yet.  All 
that  is  accomplished  so  far  is  the  overthrow 
of  injustice;  a  great  step  towards  the  goal 
but  not  the  goal  itself.  The  work  of  our 
dead  is  not  finished;  it  is  just  begun." 

The  London  Nation  expresses  its  appre- 
ciation thus:  '^The  President  is  the  only 
ruler  who,  from  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
has  consistently  laid  down  any  moral  doc- 
trine concerning  it,  or  has  sought  to  con- 
struct a  settlement  consistent  with  the  good, 
not  of  one  nation  or  set  of  nations,  but  of 
all.  This  design  is  in  full  harmony  with 
the  spirit  of  the  political  evangelism  of 
America." 

The  President  said,  September  27:  ''The 
counsels  of  plain  men  have  been  more 
simple  and  straightforward  than  the  coun- 
sels of  sophisticated  men."  In  the  critical 
weeks  which  have  followed  the  signing  of 
the  armistice  millions  of  plain  men  every- 
where have  shown  that  they  have  seen  a  new 
light.  It  is  a  light  which  shone  in  ''The 
New  Freedom,"  published  before  there 
was  any  war  and  scoffed  at  but  not  read 
by  sophisticated  Americans;  in  the  long 
and  bravely  unselfish  waiting  while  weak 

[44] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

Mexico  struggled  toward  self-government; 
in  the  slowness  to  anger  before  the  momen- 
tous issues  of  the  war  were  fully  disclosed; 
in  the  illuminating  interpretation  of  those 
issues  when  we  at  last  bent  ourselves  to  the 
burdens  of  the  war;  in  our  complete  un- 
selfishness now  as  heretofore;  in  the  calm 
and  consistent  assertion  of  fundamental 
principle,  in  high  places  and  in  low,  on 
every  occasion  since  an  American  President 
first  set  foot  on  European  soil. 

The  Conflict  Now 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  Wilson  at  the 
Paris  Peace  Conference  in  urging  a  League 
of  Nations,  '^  the  select  classes  of  mankind 
are  no  longer  the  governors  of  mankind. 
The  fortunes  of  mankind  are  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  plain  people  of  the  whole 
world.  Satisfy  them  and  you  have  justified 
their  confidence,  not  only,  but  have  estab- 
lished peace.  Fail  to  satisfy  them,  and  no 
arrangement  that  you  can  make  will  either 
set  up  or  steady  the  peace  of  the  world.  As 
I  go  about  the  streets  here  I  see  everywhere 
the  American  uniform.  These  men  came 
into  the  war  after  we  had  uttered  our  pur- 
pose.   They  came  as  crusaders  —  not  merely 

[45] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

to  win  a  war,  but  to  win  a  cause.  I  am 
responsible  to  them  and  I,  like  them,  must 
be  a  crusader  for  those  things,  whatever  it 
costs,  and  whatever  it  may  be  necessary  to 
do  in  honor,  to  accomplish  the  object  for 
which  they  fought." 

This  insistence  on  fundamental  principle 
has  stood  unshaken  amid  the  Babel  of  dis- 
cordant voices,  from  Russia,  from  Italy, 
from  France  and,  at  times,  from  England. 
From  time  to  time,  the  old  order  seems 
about  to  reestablish  itself  permanently. 
The  old  conceptions,  the  old  struggles  of 
force  with  force,  the  old  ambitions,  the  old 
lusts  for  power  and  territory  die  hard.  The 
counter-lusts  of  wrathful  men  make  for 
anarchy  and  destruction  so  widespread  as 
to  threaten  the  whole  structure  of  civiliza- 
tion. With  the  world  thus  strained,  thou- 
sands of  sophisticated  Americans  who  be- 
lieve themselves  Christians  and  pray  in 
great  churches  that  they  may  be  brought ''  to 
that  fair  city  of  peace,  whose  foundations 
are  mercy,  justice  and  good-will,"  rise  from 
their  knees  only  to  demand  an  eye  for  an 
eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.  Under  the  guise  of 
'' retribution"  they  would  inflict  the  ven- 
geance which  the  Almighty  has  reserved 

[46] 


THE    GREAT    ISSUE 

for  Himself.  They  call  across  the  ocean 
that  the  President  does  not  represent  the 
American  people,  that  he  was  repudiated 
at  the  last  election.  They  threaten  to  undo 
on  his  return  whatever  he  may  seem  to  have 
accomplished.  Their  vision  has  been  nar- 
rowed to  one  conflict,  that  between  them,  the 
righteous,  and  the  Germans,  the  unright- 
eous. New  conflicts,  however,  already  con- 
front them,  the  conflict  between  themselves 
and  the  Bolsheviki,  between  themselves  and 
those  with  whom  they  disagree  at  home. 
The  real  issue  has  not  followed  exclusively 
the  trenches  of  Northern  France.  It  has 
always  been,  is  now  and  ever  will  be  in  the 
hearts  of  men  —  everywhere. 

^'  If  the  light  that  is  in  you  be  darkness, 
how  great  is  that  darkness."  | 


[47] 


V6 


r;0  4 


